Gilbert Achcar’s radical exploration of the Arab Spring

George Miller’s guest on Le Monde diplomatique’s June 2013 podcast is Gilbert Achcar, Professor of Development Studies and International Relations at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. In his recently published book, The People Want: A Radical Exploration of the Arab Spring, he looks at the Arab Spring’s underlying causes, the deep roots of the social and economic problems, which elections and changes of leadership have done little to address.

The book argues for seeing what is going on in the Arab world as a long-term revolutionary process rather than a sequence of rapid transformative events – an analysis which certainly seems to be borne out by recent events in Egypt. I spoke to Gilbert about Egypt’s most recent crisis midway through the 48-hour ultimatum which Egypt’s military gave President Mohammed Morsi.